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Running Through Fire – Warrior Dash 2013

I did it! I survived my first Warrior Dash! Hoo-rah! All that hard work and sacrifice culminated into an experience that resulted in my overcoming some pretty bad-ass obstacles, both physical and mental.

The Warrior Dash is quite literally “the craziest frickin’ day of your life” complete with 5km worth of 30-foot tall pyramid climbs, barbed wire, mud pits, and fire…yes fire. So needless to say, as I approached the starting line I was pumped, I was anxious, and I was ready to push myself further than I ever thought I could go.

The first mile or so of the race was some distance jogging in the hot sun, so pacing was everything. I was right out of the gate and I didn’t want to dash like a bat out of hell only to keel over moments later ( rule number one: pacing is everything for a newbie runner)!

Obstacle one was a simple ant crawl over some tires and under some netting/barbed wire, and as you can see I’m still so fresh and so clean!

Of course the next few obstacles proved to be a little more daunting, but nothing impossible; just some 8-foot tall hurdles and a vertical cargo-net wall. Small victories, but victories indeed! The next round of obstacles were pleasantly muddy! Because let’s be honest, it’s all about “Mud. Sweat. Beer. Fun!” It was a free for all of climbing up giant mounds of slippery mud and sliding down into a pit of freezing cold water, right before clawing your way up another mountain of mud…then you guessed it, right back into another pit of mud. Awesome.

About two-thirds of the way through the course is when the obstacles really amp’d it up and said “Oh, you thought this was going to be easy? Wrong.” See photo gallery:

I gotta be honest, the pyramid climb with the rope stopped me in my tracks. I kept thinking, “How could I possibly get over this thing? How are these people doing this? I’ve never done this before in my life!” and then it suddenly dawned on me; there’s a first time for everything, so it’s now or never. And you know what? I psyched myself up, ran up that wall like a bad-ass, swung my legs over and made my way down the other side with THE biggest grin on my face.

As I made my way through the final mile, I came across an obstacle that stopped me dead in my tracks; the water wall. A 20-foot something cargo-net climb to the top of a wooden platform with only one way back down; a slippery wall of muddy water with wooden grips into a pit of mud. I’m not gonna lie, I had about a million thoughts racing through my head waiting in line to climb up to the top.

The other obstacles were a piece of cake compared to this beast of an obstacle.

I cannot even begin to describe how awesome it felt when I reached the bottom of that wall. It was another new personal victory for me, something that I’m not going to soon forget. But the course wasn’t quite over yet, but I had the goal in sight.

I made my way through through the cargo-net worm of doom, and there they were….the fire hurdles. I’d seen so many people before jump over these hurdles. And for me personally, it signified that I was much more a warrior than I ever could have imagined. I can overcome obstacles bigger than me, I can keep going, I can do this…keyword: can, and I will! So I jumped that fire! Nothing can stop me now! Not even the muddy mess yet to come!

Well, it wouldn’t be a mud run without the mud! The last stretch was just a giant muddy mess of awesomeness. And I mean muddy, muddy, awesomeness. See for yourself:

The end was near and I was a brand new mud monster ready for the title of “Warrior!” It was definitely an experience that I can never forget in a million years!